Vic nurses seek end to hospital blame game

NURSES want the Victorian and commonwealth auditors-general to sort out a dispute between the state and federal governments over hospital funding cuts.

About 200 Royal Melbourne Hospital nurses met with their union on Thursday to discuss the impact of the cuts, which are forcing the closure of an operating theatre and extending waiting periods for elective surgery cases.

Australian Nursing Federation Victorian secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick says nurses are very concerned about the "blame game" going on between the governments.

"They're wanting us to call on the auditors-general from both the commonwealth and the state to investigate this dispute in relation to funding ... so that we can actually find out what is the truth of the financial situation regarding budget health funding for the Victorian public health system," Ms Fitzpatrick told reporters.

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu has accused the federal government of slashing $107 million of health funding from Victoria, while federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek says the state will receive almost $1 billion additional federal funding over four years.

The dispute centres around population figures, which the federal government says have fallen and the state government says have risen.

Victorian Health Minister David Davis said he was confident health professionals across the state understood the federal government was responsible for slashing the December payment.

"This is about a fall in funding to Victoria's hospitals that's been delivered by the federal government this month," he told reporters.

Mr Davis said the state government would continue to pursue the matter with the commonwealth.

"This is not us arguing for some esoteric reason," Mr Davis said.

The ANF will write to the auditors-general and Ms Fitzpatrick says she expects a quick response because changes to hospital operations are starting before Christmas.

"We have to get somebody independent who actually can look at the facts and the figures and then we can clearly say to people who's short-changing the Victorian people and then put the money back in," Ms Fitzpatrick said.